| So, allow us to decide for ourselves what to accept from Europe (which we respect and which still has much that is worthy of emulation), and what we will not accept. And if your friendship with us is more than just empty talk, then you should also believe in that fundamental trait of friendship called equality of friends. This also means that you should want to learn something from us, or remember something thanks to us. And perhaps that “something” is those very human and family traditions that we so carefully preserve in Georgia and which have so declined in today’s Western Europe. Our nation will gladly work together with the European Union on matters of scientific and technological progress and the building of democracy. But our own culture, which even before the birth of Christ gave mankind wine and wheat, Amirani-Prometheus, and the medicine of Medea. The theft of the golden fleece of knowledge, considered a great feat amongst the forbears of Europe—the Greeks—does not accept any moralizing from a Western Europe that is itself in moral crisis. Batono Thomas, the list of signatures to this letter, presented in alphabetical order, could have been much longer; but to save time we considered it sufficient to give you a clear picture of the spectrum of people who support it. We apologize to all those worthy members of our society who would have gladly signed this letter. Respectfully, Rezo Amashukeli, poet Chabua Ameredzhibi, writer George Benidze, MD Nona Gaprindashvili, world champion chess player George Gvasalia, theologian George Gogolashvili, professor Nukri Dzhokhadze, civil servant George Donadze, regent Nino Durglishvili, mother Anzor Erkomashvili, folklorist Rezo Esadze, film director Levan Vasadze, businessman Anzor Tomadze, professor Eviad Iremadze, lawyer Marina Kacharava, psychologist Vugar Memedov, civil servant Nino Mamulashvili, mother Soso Mandzhavidze, politician Tamar Meinariani, teacher Yuri Mechitov, photographer Eldar Mustafaev, civil servant Lela Mudzhiri, mother |
| Маккавеев и проч.) (PL. 123. Col. 318, 343-344, 378-379; 383). Вероятно, Адон также впервые указал память св. Антиоха, еп. Лугдунского (15 окт.), сведения о к-ром он почерпнул из Жития И. (см.: Quentin. 1908. P. 232, 443, 485, 553). Из Мартиролога Адона Вьеннского 3 дня поминовения И. и память св. Виатора 21 окт. перенесены в Мартиролог, составленный Ноткером Заикой († 912) (PL. 131. Col. 1132, 1147, 1159, 1162), и в интерполированную версию Мартиролога Беды Достопочтенного (PL. 94. Col. 998, 1029-1031, 1072, 1078). В др. Мартирологах память И. указана только 2 сент., напр. в Мартирологах Вандальберта Прюмского (848) (MGH. Poet. T. 2. P. 593), Узуарда (2-я пол. IX в.) (PL. 124. 427-430, 601-602) и Псевдо-Флора (IX в.) (PL. 94. Col. 1072). Поминовение И. 4 авг. и 14 окт. внесено среди поздних добавлений к Мартирологу Узуарда (PL. 124. Col. 331-332, 575-576). В XVI в. кард. Цезарь Бароний включил в Римский Мартиролог память И. под 2 сент. (перенесение мощей И. и Виатора) и 14 окт. В средние века празднование памяти И., как и др. местных святых, не было обязательным для церквей Лионского архиепископства. Однако поминовение И. совершалось в городских храмах Лиона. Так, в интерполированной версии Мартиролога Флора, к-рая использовалась в кафедральном соборе Лиона в XII-XIII вв., а также в календаре XIV в. из церкви св. И. указаны 3 дня памяти И.: перенесение мощей святого из пустыни (4 авг.), перенесение мощей (2 сент.) и кончина (14 окт.), 21 окт. совершалось поминовение св. Виатора (Martyrologe de la sainte église de Lyon/Éd. J. Condamin, J.-B. Vanel. Lyon; P., 1902. P. 72, 81, 94, 95, 132-134, 157-158). В 1245 г. Римский папа Иннокентий IV даровал отпущение грехов тем, кто посещали церковь св. И. в день его памяти 4 сент. или в октаву праздника ( Martin. 1905. N 1093). Празднование памяти И. 4 сент. было особенно торжественным (см.: Moreni D. Notizie istoriche dei contorni di Firenze. Firenze, 1795. Vol. 6. P. 27). В этот день устраивалась процессия, в совершении вечерни и мессы участвовали каноники кафедрального капитула ( Roussillac. |
| At Optina Hermitage, as at other monasteries in Russia, the authorities had organized plemkhoz and sovkhoz 1 state farms, and the monks themselves organized “Flower and Vegetable Garden Producer’s and Cooperative Association.” The brotherhood’s attempt to save the monastery—if only in such a form—did not meet with success: they closed the “association” in 1924 “for anti-Soviet propaganda.” The new authorities lorded it over the monastery and complete chaos reigned: books and holy things went missing or were plundered. Institutions and private individuals occupied the premises and took what they pleased. There were instances of vandalism: soldiers in the military unit quartered at the Monastery began to drive nails into the beautiful wall paintings of the monastery trapeza. 2 The Brotherhood tried to save the holy objects—if only in the newly-built museum, into which went the very rich monastery and skete libraries, archives, and several monastery buildings. Fr. Nikon (Belyaev) became the first director of the Optina Museum in 1919. After his arrest, Lydia Vasilievna became the director. What can we say about the workers in this museum? Monk-Confessor Nikon. Monk-Confessor Agapit (Taube). Nun Maria (Dobromyslova), the daughter of a Kozelsk priest, a spiritual child of Fr. Nikon, the author of the excellent book The Life of Hieromonk Nikon . Poet and children’s author Nadezhda Pavlovich, faithful spiritual child of St. Nectarius and author of memoirs about him… Selfless, altruistic, and tenacious, they strove to preserve the spiritual treasures of Optina—its holy objects. They were doomed and they knew they were doomed. But they also knew that everything doesn’t end with this short earthly life. Lydia Vasilievna wrote to the Glavmuzei : 3 “What should be done if they begin to stockpile vegetables on the premises of churches with their wall and ceiling paintings, and they arrest me for counterrevolutionary activities, although from the cradle to the grave I have not wanted and do not want to even think about politics…. The prisons in Kaluga, Smolensk, and Vyazemsk provinces 4 are not heated, and it would be hard to sit in prison for a long time for the absence of political ideas.” |
| They love the abominations of the stage, which chastity does not love. They love, in the sorceries of the magicians, a thousand arts of inflicting harm, which innocence does not love. Yet both chastity and innocence, if they wish to obtain anything from the gods, will not be able to do so by their own merits, except their enemies act as mediators on their behalf. Apuleius need not attempt to justify the fictions of the poets, and the mockeries of the stage. If human modesty can act so faithlessly towards itself as not only to love shameful things, but even to think that they are pleasing to the divinity, we can cite on the other side their own highest authority and teacher, Plato. Chapter 19.– Of the Impiety of the Magic Art, Which is Dependent on the Assistance of Malign Spirits. Moreover, against those magic arts, concerning which some men, exceedingly wretched and exceedingly impious, delight to boast, may not public opinion itself be brought forward as a witness? For why are those arts so severely punished by the laws, if they are the works of deities who ought to be worshipped? Shall it be said that the Christians have ordained those laws by which magic arts are punished? With what other meaning, except that these sorceries are without doubt pernicious to the human race, did the most illustrious poet say, By heaven, I swear, and your dear life, Unwillingly these arms I wield, And take, to meet the coming strife, Enchantment " s sword and shield. And that also which he says in another place concerning magic arts, I " ve seen him to another place transport the standing grain, has reference to the fact that the fruits of one field are said to be transferred to another by these arts which this pestiferous and accursed doctrine teaches. Does not Cicero inform us that, among the laws of the Twelve Tables, that is, the most ancient laws of the Romans, there was a law written which appointed a punishment to be inflicted on him who should do this? Lastly, was it before Christian judges that Apuleius himself was accused of magic arts? Had he known these arts to be divine and pious, and congruous with the works of divine power, he ought not only to have confessed, but also to have professed them, rather blaming the laws by which these things were prohibited and pronounced worthy of condemnation, while they ought to have been held worthy of admiration and respect. |
| In a 1997 interview with Books and Culture , William F. Buckley Jr. was asked what thinkers influenced him theologically. “I’m a theological novice,” he answered, “but I simply assume that the Christian prism tends to inform Christians, whatever they are reading.” All literature, in other words, has the potential to be Christian literature. Believer can find the good, true, and beautiful thumbing through most any book—or at least be reminded of those things by their absence. Indeed, there’s a long tradition of Christians devouring literature by non-Christians for both education and enjoyment. Apostle Paul, pop-culture aficionado Moses knew the Egyptian library and Daniel the Babylonian, but the most famous picture of this is the apostle Paul on Mars Hill. Surrounded by idols, enveloped with pagan superstition, Paul didn’t quote Leviticus or Isaiah. He shared the gospel with pagans by citing more pagans, namely the astronomer Aratus and his poem The Phenomena : “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17.28). Paul put pagan lit to good use at least two other times, likely quoting Epimenides of Crete in Titus 1.12 (“Cretans are always liars, vicious brutes, lazy gluttons”) and another poet in 1 Corinthians 15.33 (“Bad company ruins good morals”). Early church historian Socrates Scholasticus ascribed the 1 Corinthian quote to the Athenian tragedian Euripides, but it’s more likely from the comic writer Menander and his play Thais . What? you exclaim. The apostle Paul wasting time with comedies! Depends on what we mean by waste , right? Paul was very familiar with pagan literature. He quoted it too ably and easily for his use to be contrived. He couldn’t run to a library and knock through a few dozen books looking for a choice line. He knew his stuff by memory. Not only was Paul fluent in the cultural currents of his world, he undoubtedly found leisure, learning, and amusement in the works of pagan writers, too. I wouldn’t call that waste. Go ahead, read pagans |
| They were forged during the reign of Peter the Great according to a design by H. Konrad and later transferred to St. Catherine's by order of the Empress Catherine, thus making them the oldest extant structure of the present architectural ensemble. The railings and columns lend to the church an air of elegance procured by the then imperial penchant for imitating English pavilion parks and gardens. In 1870-1872 the winter church was constructed with three altars: the main altar was dedicated to the Image of the Saviour-Not-Made-by-Hands (consecrated on 21 November 1872) and two side altars, dedicated to St. Nicholas (consecrated on 24 November of the same year) and St. Alexander Nevsky (consecrated on 10 November, also in the same year). The later church was executed according to a design by the architect P.P. Petrov, although some documents list the architect as one D.N. Chichagov. The bell tower was also enlarged during this period. Although containing few of the refined features of the earlier summer church, the architect did consciously build the new church in harmony with the style of the old. In 1879 the parish engaged the architect G. Ivanitsky to construct in the southwest part of its territory a two-storey retirement home for the widows of state councillors to replace an earlier wooden retirement home built in the 1750s. In the northwest corner of the church a rectory was also built. By the turn of the century St. Catherine's was one of the richest parishes in the area, with buildings extending along Bolshaya Ordynka St. and maintaining a large number of parish clergy. Among her parishioners was the Russian theologian, philosopher, poet and spiritual leader of the Slavophile movement Alexei Khomyakov, baptized here in 1804 and born in a house adjacent to the parish (the Israeli Embassy now stands on this site). At present it is the only parish church in Moscow dedicated to the great martyr Catherine and one of the few Russian Orthodox churches dedicated to women saints. |
| The minor stylistic variations on which different authorship is posited for the Gospel and the Epistles thus appear to us inadequate to imply different authorship. Stylistically, the Gospel and the Epistles have far more in common than not. 1032 Some elements of style, such as the use of conjunctions and asyndeton, sharply distinguish the Johannine literature from other early Christian texts. In the Fourth Gospel, only the major interpolation (7:53–8:11) diverges from this stylistic pattern. 1033 While it is true that writers practiced imitation of respected teachers» style, documents purporting to derive from the same author which reflect the same basic style should not be questioned without adequate grounds, and it does not seem that the grounds are adequate in this instance. The author of 1 John claims to be an eyewitness (1:1–3); if this is not true, then the epistle is pseudonymous. Pseudonymous works, however, normally identified by name the author whose identity and authority they wished to assume. If one labels 1 John pseudonymous, one must attribute to it an attempted implicit pseudonymity–a category for which parallels are more difficult to find. 1034 Differences based on content are even less decisive. 1035 John and 1 John have much more in common than one would expect, given the different situations addressed. Differences of nuance or items included are hardly adequate to distinguish authors; were that the case, Romans and 1Corinthians could hardly have been written by the same Pau1. (Compare even stylistic variations: as mentioned above, whereas Paul seems to cite then qualify Corinthian positions in the latter–e.g., 1Cor 6:12–14 –he uses a more customary imaginary interlocutor throughout his diatribe in Romans.) No other author of antiquity could survive the nit-picking distinctions on which NT scholars, poring over a smaller corpus, often thrive. As a translator of Euripides for the Loeb series notes, Euripides» «plays, produced at times widely apart, and not in the order of the story, sometimes present situations (as in Hecuba, Daughters of Troy, and Helen) mutually exclusive, the poet not having followed the same legend throughout the series.» 1036 He would not fare well in the hands of our discipline. |
| Paul Evdokimov, La Connaissance de Dieu (Lyons, 1967). Also important for Patristic mystical theology in general: G. B. Ladner, The Idea of Reform: its Impact on Christian Thought and Action in the Age of the Fathers (Cambridge, Mass., 1959). Chapter I. Plato . There are many translations of Plato. I have used the following: F. M. Cornford, The Republic of Plato (Oxford, 1941). R. Hackforth, Plato’s Phaedrus (Cambridge, 1952). Timaeus, translated by H. D. P. Lee (Harmondsworth, 1965). For the Phaedo I have used H. N. Fowler’s translation in the Loeb Classical Library (1914), and for the Symposium (or the Banquet) that by the poet, Shelley. The following books I have found particularly useful: W. Jaeger, Paideia: the Ideals of Greek Culture, vol. II (In Search of the Divine Centre) and parts of vol. III (Oxford, 1944). A.-J. Festugière, Contemplation et vie contemplative selon Platon (Paris, 1967). Chapter II. Philo. Philo’s works are available in the Loeb Classical Library, edited and translated by F. H. Colson and G. H. Whitaker, with indices by J. W. Earp (10 vols., London, 1929–1971). There are two supplementary volumes with a translation (only, from the Armenian, by Ralph Marcus) of the Questions and Answers on Genesis and Exodus (London, 1961). The best thing on Philo’s mysticism is Marguerite Harl’s introduction to her edition of Quis rerum divinarum heres sit (Paris, 1966). See also: E. Bréhier, Les Idées pholosophiques et religieuses de Philon d’Alexandrie (Paris, 1925). J. Daniélou, Philon d’Alexandrie (Paris, 1958). And more generally on Hellenistic philosophy and religion: A.-J. Festugière, La Révélation d’Hermès Trismégiste (4 vols., Paris, 1944–1954). Chapter III. Plotinus. The standard edition of the text of Plotinus is P. Henry and H.-R. Schwyzer, Plotini Opera, 3 vols. (Paris and Brussels, 1951–1973). Translations: Plotinus: The Enneads, tr. by Stephen MacKenna, rev. by B. S. Page (London, 1969). A. H. Armstrong’s translation in the Loeb Classical Library is as yet incomplete. |
| The hymn-writers did not have to search for types and images ; »wood,» or «tree», immediately suggested the Cross; vessels or buildings containing something precious, the womb of the Mother of God. For the Fathers and hymn-writers, all the words of scripture spoke of Christ, the Word incarnate, and they have bequeathed to the Church an extraordinary wealth of theology and spirituality, which is a constant reminder that Christianity is not a religion of a book, but of a living Word. Further reading Barrois, G., Scripture Readings in Orthodox Worship, Crestwood, NY: SVS Press, 1977. Cunningham, M., »The meeting of the old and the new: the typology of Mary the Theotokos in Byzantine homilies and hymns», in R. N. Swanson (ed.), The Church and Mary, Studies in Church History 39, Woodbridge and Rochester: Boydell Press, 2004, pp. 52–62. Hopko, T., «The Transfiguration Liturgy in the Orthodox Church» in S. T. Kimbrough Jr (ed.), Orthodox and Wesleyan Scriptural Understanding and Practice, Crestwood, NY: SVS Press, 2005, pp. 305–20. Lash, Archimandrite E., »Mary in Eastern Church literature» in A. Stacpoole, OSB (ed.), Mary in Doctrine and Devotion, Dublin: Columba Press, 1990, pp. 58–80. «Search the scriptures: a sermon preached before the University of Cambridge», Sourozh 64 (May 1996), 1–11. www.anastasis.org.uk (contains English translations of many Orthodox liturgical texts, including some quoted in this chapter; some are copiously annotated). Theokritoff, E., »The poet as expositor in the golden age of Byzantine hymnography and in the experience of the Church» in S. T. Kimbrough Jr (ed.), Orthodox and Wesleyan Scriptural Understanding and Practice, Crestwood, NY: SVS Press, 2005, pp. 259–75. 3. God in Trinity BORIS BOBRINSKOY THE DIVINE TRINITY The mystery of the living God is that of the Tri-Unity. This, which unites the Three and the One in a single aspect and in a unique formulation but which also recalls the mystery of the Three and of the One, is beyond all conceptions of multiplicity and plurality. It is appropriate to cite here the celebrated passage by St Gregory of Nazianzus (known as " the Theologian») in order to introduce Orthodox trinitarian theology: |
| 866. Krumbacher К. Geschichte derumbacher К. Geschichte der byzantinischen Literatur von Justinian bis zum Ende des Oströmischen Reiches. 2. Aufl. München, 1897. S. 663.yzantinischen Literatur von Justinianumbacher К. Geschichte derumbacher К. Geschichte der byzantinischen Literatur von Justinian bis zum Ende des Oströmischen Reiches. 2. Aufl. München, 1897. S. 663.yzantinischen Literatur von Justinian bis zum Ende des Oströmischen Reiches. 2. Aufl. München, 1897. S. 663.is zum Ende des Oströmischen Reiches. 2. Aufl. München, 1897. S. 663. 867. Bouvy E. Poetes et Melodes: stude sur les oriqines du rythme tonique dans l’hymnographie de l’Eglise grecque. Nimes, 1886. P. 358. 868. Cataphygiotou-Topping E. St. Romanos: Icon of a Poet//Greek Orthodox Theological Review. XII. 1966. P. 92—111; Id. The Poet-Priest intaphygiotou-Topping E. St. Romanos: Icon of a Poet//Greek Orthodox Theological Review. XII. 1966. P. 92—111; Id. The Poet-Priest in Byzantium//Ibid. XV. 1969. P. 31—41.yzantium//Ibid. XV. 1969. P. 31—41. 869. Grosdidier de Matons J. Romanes de Melode et les origines de la poesie religieuse aosdidier de Matons J. Romanes de Melode et les origines de la poesie religieuse a Byzance. Paris, 1977. P. 320—327.yzance. Paris, 1977. P. 320—327. 870. Термин «кондак» с известной долей условности применяется в научной литературе к болыпим ранневизантийским композициям из многих строф (икосов). В церковной обиходс он означает отдельные строфы, удержавшиеся внутри «чинопсследования» того или иного праздника послс вытеснения этих ксмпозиций из богсслужебного употребления, а также меньшие строфы акафистов. 871. Науке XIX в. пришлось совершенно заново открывать этот феномен — после многовековых попытск видеть в византийской церковной поэзии либо чистую прозу, либо какое-то странное преломление античной метрики. Примечательно, что греки, участвовавшие в ученой жизни Западной Европы, ничем не могли помочь своим коллегам; уже после работ кардинала Ж. -Б. Питра, поставивших подход к византийской гимнографии на здравую научную основу, греческий ученый К. Сафа (Σαθας К. Ιστορικν δοκμων περ το θετρου κα της μουσικς των Βυξαυτινων. ν Βενετα, 1878) энергично настаивал на отсутствии в гимнографических текстах каких-либо признаков стихосложения; одновременно в Грецки продолжали сочинять новые гимны с соблюдением тех же правил, что и в византийские времена (ср.: Grosdidier de Matons J. Op. cit. P. 121, n. 16). Так до своего последнего самоисчерпания восходившая к Византии традиция разводила практику гимнографии и филологическую ученость. В той мере, в которой последняя все же принимала к сведению первую, она относила ее не по рубрике литературы, а по рубрике музыки, как это наблюдается уже в дефиниции ирмоса у византийского ученого Иоанна Зонары (PG. 135. Col. 421 В-428 D). |
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